Tag - relations

 
 

RELATIONS

Though some in the country rejected their wartime associations, the Japanese government made the Hinomaru flag and "Kimigayo" anthem official 25 years ago.
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Aug 1, 2024
Japan Times 1999: Flag, anthem now official
After some controversy, the Hinomaru flag was made official alongside the country's national anthem, "Kimigayo."
Kuninori Matsuda, Japanese ambassador to Ukraine, speaks during an interview in Kyiv on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 31, 2024
Japanese ambassador to Ukraine urges continuing of aid
Kuninori Matsuda said that Japan should not feel that it has no direct stake in the conflict, as Ukrainian aid helps protect the international order.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken looks on as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shakes hands with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 31, 2024
China lodges protest with Japan over 'irresponsible remarks' in talks with U.S.
China's director-general of Asian affairs at the Foreign Ministry lodged a complaint with the Japanese Embassy, in the latest row between the Asian giants.
Traditional soap cakes are manufactured in Aleppo in northern Syria in February.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 31, 2024
Japanese importer fights to preserve traditional Aleppo soap
It is said that Aleppo has upheld the tradition of soapmaking for approximately 1,000 years, using olive and laurel oil with alkali made from charcoaled desert shrubs.
Upper House lawmaker Muneo Suzuki speaks to reporters in Moscow on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 30, 2024
Pro-Moscow lawmaker Muneo Suzuki visits Russia again
The Upper House member defied the central government by flying to Moscow for talks with senior Russian officials.
Members of U.S. military services and the Self-Defense Forces wait for the arrival of then-U.S. President Donald Trump at the Air Force's Yokota Air Base, headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan, in Fussa, on the outskirts of Tokyo, in November 2017.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2024
U.S. panel recommends four-star general as military commander in Japan
The commission reviewing the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy also said it “strongly praises” U.S. diplomatic and defense efforts to strengthen partnerships in Asia.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (left to right), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara prior their "two-plus-two" talks at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on Sunday
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 28, 2024
In historic move, U.S. to upgrade military command structure in Japan
The move — one of the most significant in the alliance's history — comes as Washington and Tokyo overhaul military ties in the face of an increasingly assertive China.
South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik (left to right), Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pose for a photo at the Defense Ministry Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jul 28, 2024
U.S., Japan and South Korea ink deal to 'institutionalize' security ties
The move — just months before the U.S. presidential election — is seen as part of a bid to make the trilateral relationship more difficult to reverse.
Ryugo Watanabe (second from right), mayor of Sado, Niigata Prefecture, celebrates Saturday in New Delhi after the UNESCO World Heritage Committee unanimously decided in a meeting in the Indian capital to register the Sado Island Gold Mines as a World Cultural Heritage site.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 28, 2024
Tokyo-Seoul negotiations lead to Sado Gold Mines' UNESCO listing
South Korea argued that the mines used forced labor from the Korean Peninsula during WWII, and that Japan should reflect the whole history of the site.
A tunnel inside the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture
JAPAN / History
Jul 27, 2024
Japan's Sado gold mines added to World Heritage list
The site is associated with Korean wartime labor and was once the world's largest gold mine complex.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and her South Korean counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, shake hands during talks on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
Japan and South Korea top diplomats pledge even stronger cooperation
The pair reaffirmed the importance of cooperation in order to maintain and strengthen a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meet on the sidelines of Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings in Vientiane, Laos, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 27, 2024
As foreign ministers meet, China says relations with Japan at 'critical stage'
The pair discussed thorny issues, including Japanese nationals detained in China, food import bans and semiconductor curbs.
The Sado Gold Mine, so heavily tapped that the mountain bearing it has been cleaved in two, is up for consideration for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site status.
JAPAN
Jul 27, 2024
Japan should display full history of Sado mine, South Korean archaeologist says
He will not advise the South Korean UNESCO delegation against accepting the designation of the mine if Japan explains its history properly.
A tunnel inside the Sado Island Gold Mines in Sado, Niigata Prefecture
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2024
South Korea to accept Sado Gold Mines as World Heritage site
The International Council on Monuments and Sites urged Japan to provide visitors with information on all mining periods at the site.
Enea Almeida (right), chair of the Brazilian amnesty commission, shakes hands with the representative for Japanese immigrants on Thursday in Brasilia.
JAPAN
Jul 26, 2024
Brazil issues apology for persecuting Japan immigrants during WWII
The apology aims to restore the dignity Japanese Brazilians lost due to the government's past atrocities, 79 years after the end of the war.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (left) shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House in April.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 25, 2024
The LDP members best placed to deal with the next U.S. president
With Kamala Harris entering the race, the LDP now has to prepare to deal with either a familiar former president or a not-so-familiar vice president.
A German Air Force Eurofighter jet takes off from Chitose Airbase in Hokkaido during Germany and Japan's first-ever bilateral fighter exercise, which ran from Monday to Thursday.
JAPAN
Jul 25, 2024
Japan and Germany elevate ties with first joint fighter exercise
Named Nippon Skies, the aerial maneuvers took place in the airspace around the Air Self-Defense Force’s Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido.
Honda will close a plant operated through its joint venture with Chinese state-owned automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group in October.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 25, 2024
Japan's Honda to close one China plant and halt production at another
The company's annual production capacity in China will shrink to 1.2 million vehicles from 1.49 million as a result of the stoppages.
The Kestrel I Suborbital Launch Vehicle, operated by AtSpace, sister company of Taiwanese rocket startup TiSpace, at an AtSpace facility in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday
BUSINESS / Companies / ANALYSIS
Jul 25, 2024
Taiwanese rocket startup may bolster Japan's space hub ambitions
A planned launch has faced regulatory hurdles and delays amid questions over whether Japan should embrace overseas business as it works to grow its space industry.
King Charles and Queen Camilla of Britain attend a ceremony on June 25 to welcome Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on a seven-day state visit to the U.K.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 24, 2024
The imperial visit that crowned Japan-U.K. friendship
Having overcome past tensions, Japanese-British relations are at their peak, as seen during Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako's state visit to the U.K. in June.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’